Horse mounted archers, steppe nomads, still existed in this period. Did they use the same traditional dress and fighting styles of their Turco-Mongol predecesors, or did their tactics and weapons change with the times?

Horse mounted archers, steppe nomads, still existed in this period. Did they use the same traditional dress and fighting styles of their Turco-Mongol predecesors, or did their tactics and weapons change with the times?

Horse mounted archers, steppe nomads, still existed in this period. Did they use the same traditional dress and fighting styles of their Turco-Mongol predecesors, or did their tactics and weapons change with the times?

Well everything the Byzantines did was taken from what they saw as successful by their enemies and by their allies. Parthians, Magyars, Turks, and Mongols all had horse armor, mostly lamellar, but some scale armor made of metals. Rome and her successor Constantinople were great at taking the ideas of others and improving upon them.

The Russian Boyars would have fought in a fashion similar to that of the Magyar elite, armored cavalry with bows, lances, and swords, which is also very similar to how the Roman clibarii (oven men) and the Parthian-Persian cataphracts fought in earlier times.

Agree with you, especially byzantines used much military technology from their enemies, like the more extensive use of heavy cavalry from Persian protyps, the stirup from Avars e.t.c.
Nut byzantines were not so famous about their horse archers although "Kataphracts" were trained in use of bow but they were used much more as shock troops.

In this period they were mostly found in Eastern Europe and in the Ottoman Empire. Cossacks, Tartars and Bashkirs used bows, spears and pistols, as did the original Hussars from Hungary. Western Europe also had mounted archers , although they used crossbows and arquebuses.

The English had "mounted archers," but it would be impossible to use a long bow from the saddle they were mounted while moving and dismounted to fight. An ongoing English tradition, from the Houscarls to the Knights and Archers.

The English had "mounted archers," but it would be impossible to use a long bow from the saddle they were mounted while moving and dismounted to fight. An ongoing English tradition, from the Houscarls to the Knights and Archers.

I was thinking more along the lines of Spanish Esopeteros, French Argulets, and similar such troops found in most Western armies that performed a mounted archer function without actually using bows. As for firing English long warbows from saddles, I read somewhere this was done on the odd occasion during the 100 years war, but with much reduced range and effect. I'll have to look it up. In any event, you need look no further than Samurai shooting long bows from horseback.

Theirs is a completely different style though, the bow is held and drawn above the head, probably not close to the pull weight of an English long bow. That would be a bit difficult to do with a real heavy draw weight designed for a foot archer.

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